West Highland White Terrier

West Highland White Terrier Breed Information

West Highland White Terriers are amongst a group of breeds classed as ‘Category Two’ by The Kennel Club. These are breeds of dog that have been highlighted as having ‘points of concern’ – visible features which, if exaggerated, might potentially affect the breed in the future and cause health and welfare concerns.

West Highland White Terriers are a member of the ‘Terrier’ breed group. Dogs in the Terrier group were originally bred for hunting vermin. They are hardy, brave dogs bred to pursue the likes of foxes, badgers and rats (to name a few) above and below ground.

West Highland White Terriers, or ‘Westies’ as they’re more affectionately known, are happy, inquisitive dogs that are also sometimes known to be quite stubborn. For this reason, training can sometimes be more of a challenge and will require patience, but can be achieved using reward-based techniques. For more information on training your dog, take a look at our dog behaviour page where you can pick up plenty of tips to help you and your canine companion better understand each other. They need around an hour of exercise daily.

Westies are well suited to family life and get on very well with children, enjoying playtime wherever possible. They’ll need grooming once or twice a week, and clipping by a professional groomer periodically.

Breed-related health problems:

Owners are, understandably, upset when their dog develops a health problem linked to its breed. Often they wish they’d known what problems the breed was prone to have. The potential health problems that West Highland White Terriers are prone to include:

Westie Lung (Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) – a disease which causes scarring and stiffness in the lungs.

For some conditions, there are screening programmes available through the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Kennel Club. The Canine Health Schemes allow breeders to screen for a range of inherited diseases, so it’s a good idea to check the parents of any puppy you’re looking to rehome have been screened under these schemes. We’d also recommend discussing the medical history of your potential puppy’s parents and grandparents, and think very carefully before taking on a dog with any of the health conditions listed above evident in the family line.

The list above does not include veterinary costs if your pet becomes sick or injured, so these average lifetime costs could be even higher.

Insure your West Highland White Terrier with PDSA:

1 in 3 pets need vet treatment each year and vet bills can come to hundreds of pounds. PDSA Pet Insurance can give you peace of mind when your pet is poorly, especially for breeds like West Highland White Terriers that are prone to certain conditions. PDSA Pet Insurance offers:

Not sure if the West Highland White Terrier is the right pet for you?

ABOUT PDSA

Founded in 1917 by animal welfare pioneer, Maria Dickin CBE, PDSA is the UK’s leading veterinary charity. Operating through a UK-wide network of 48 Pet Hospitals, PDSA provides low cost and free veterinary care to the sick and injured pets of people in need and promotes responsible pet ownership